Small form factor pluggable units such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,761,604 issued to Lavoie et al. on Jun. 24, 2014, herein fully incorporated by reference, are known in the art. As described in Column 1, lines 10-48 in the '604 patent:
Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) devices are standardized, hot-pluggable devices used to provide communication services for the communication market. The SFF (Small Form Factor) Committee defines the mechanical, electrical, and software specifications of the SFP device to ensure interoperability among SFP devices and chassis. SFF Committee document INF-8074i Rev 1.0 provides specifications for SFP (Small Formfactor Pluggable) Transceiver. SFF Committee documents SFF-8431 Rev 4.1 SFP+ 10 Gb/s and Low Speed Electrical Interface provides specifications for SFP+ devices. SFF Committee document INF-8438i Rev 1.0 provides specifications for QSFP (Quad Small Formfactor Pluggable) Transceiver. SFF Committee document INF-8077i Rev 4.5 (10 Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable Module) provides specifications for XFP devices. These documents represent the various families of SFP devices available.
SFP devices are designed to be inserted within a cage, which the cage is attached to the communication equipment circuit assembly. SFF Committee document SFF-8432 Rev 5.1 SFP+ provides specifications for the SFP+ module and cage. Ethernet switches, Ethernet routers, servers are examples of equipment using SFP type devices. SFP devices are available with different exterior connectors for various applications. SFP devices are available with coaxial connectors, SC/LC optical connectors, and RJ modular jack types connectors.
SFF Committee document SFF-8472 Diagnostic Monitoring Interface for Optical Transceivers provides specifications on the SFP device's identity, status, and real-time operating conditions. SFF-8472 describes a register and memory map which provides alarms, warnings, vendor identity, SFP description and type, SFP real time diagnostic, and vendor specific registers. This information is to be used by the SFP host equipment.
Other references relating to and/or discuss technology related to small form factor units or devices include U.S. Pat. No. 8,036,539 issued to Kiely et al. on Oct. 11, 2011 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0209886 issued to Silberman et al. on Sep. 21, 2006. Each of these references is herein fully incorporated by reference.
By way of further background, small form factor pluggable (SFP) devices are used to provide a flexible means of providing communication services for the telecommunication network. The SFP devices are typically deployed on communication network equipment such as an Ethernet access switch, Ethernet router, a broadband fiber multiplexer, or media converters. SFP devices are designed to support optical and wired Ethernet, TDM SONET, Fiber Channel, and other communications standards. Due to its small and portable physical size, SFP devices have expanded in specifications to address other applications. SFP devices presently are defined for XFP, SFP, SFP+, QSFP, QLSFP, QSFP+, and CXP technologies. SFP devices are standardized among equipment vendors and network operators to support interoperability. Due to the low cost, size, and interoperability, SFP devices are used extensively in all communication service applications.
802.11 is a set of media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) specifications for implementing wireless local area network (WLAN) computer communication in the 2.4, 3.6, 5, and 60 GHz frequency bands. They are created and maintained by the IEEE LAN/MAN Standards Committee (IEEE 802). The base version of the standard was released in 1997, and has had subsequent amendments. The standard and amendments provide the basis for wireless network products using the Wi-Fi brand. While each amendment is officially revoked when it is incorporated in the latest version of the standard, the corporate world tends to market to the revisions because they concisely denote capabilities of their products. As a result, in the market place, each revision tends to become its own standard.
The 802.11 family consists of a series of half-duplex over-the-air modulation techniques that use the same basic protocol. 802.11-1997 was the first wireless networking standard in the family, but 802.11b was the first widely accepted one, followed by 802.11a, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac. Other standards in the family (c-f, h, j) are service amendments and extensions or corrections to the previous specifications.
802.11b and 802.11g use the 2.4 GHz ISM band, operating in the United States under Part 15 of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission Rules and Regulations. Because of this choice of frequency band, 802.11b and g equipment may occasionally suffer interference from microwave ovens, cordless telephones, and Bluetooth devices, 802.11b and 802.11g control their interference and susceptibility to interference by using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signaling methods, respectively. 802.11a uses the 5 GHz U-NII band, which, for much of the world, offers at least 23 non-overlapping channels rather than the 2.4 GHz ISM frequency band, where adjacent channels overlap—e.g., WLAN channels. Better or worse performance with higher or lower frequencies (channels) may be realized, depending on the environment.
The segment of the radio frequency spectrum used by 802.11 varies between countries. In the US, 802.11a and 802.11g devices may be operated without a license, as allowed in Part 15 of the FCC Rules and Regulations. Frequencies used by channels one through six of 802.11b and 802.11g fall within the 2.4 GHz amateur radio band. Licensed amateur radio operators may operate 802.11b/g devices under Part 97 of the FCC Rules and Regulations, allowing increased power output but not commercial content or encryption.
Bluetooth is a wireless technology using short-wavelength UHF radio waves in the ISM band from 2.4 to 2.485 GHz from fixed and mobile devices, and in-building networks. Invented by telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization. Bluetooth is managed and oversees the development of the specification and manages the qualification program. Bluetooth technology is a global wireless communication standard that is present on a majority of mobile devices.
ZigBee is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification for a suite of high-level communication protocols used to create personal area networks with small, low-power digital radios. Its low power consumption limits transmission distances to 10-100 meters line-of-sight, depending on power output and environmental characteristics. ZigBee is typically used in low data rate applications that require long battery life and secure networking. ZigBee has a defined rate of 250 kbit/s, best suited for intermittent data transmissions from a sensor or input device.
Wi-Fi has become a very ubiquitous, cost effective, and popular wireless network technology. Service and Network Providers are increasing their Wi-Fi services as a cost effective technology to provide wireless services. These Providers typically deploy Wi-Fi services using a wireless router and an Ethernet Access Switch or Network Interface Device (NID). The Ethernet Access Switch or NID provides data transport to and from the telecommunication network. The wireless router provides the media conversion and protocol processing of the data received from the Ethernet Access Switch or NID. The Ethernet Access Switch or Network Interface Device will typically have one or more SFP ports. The SFP port will be populated with an SFP device, which the SFP device will connect to the wireless router with a cable, as illustrated in prior art FIG. 1.
Communication equipment will typically use a secondary technology to provide information on device status, identity, and configuration to other devices. This secondary technology can also be used to provision or configure the device or communicate information to other remote devices or systems. This secondary technology is typically a wired technology and requires the use of a cable. The device will have a DB39 connector or RJ45 modular jack if RS232 is the communication protocol, as shown in prior art FIG. 3A. The device can also use an RJ45 modular jack if Ethernet is the communication protocol, as shown in FIG. 3B. The disadvantage of using wired technology for secondary communication is the added cost of the cable and the requirement to have a cable of proper length, wiring, and matching physical connectors. The cable also restricts the mobility of both the devices, where both devices must remain stationary to facility efficient communications.
Mobile devices such as smart phones, tablets, or wearable devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices cannot support large physical connectors such as a DB9 connector or an RJ45 modular jack. In addition, communications with mobile and wearable devices should not restrict the mobility of these devices.
SFP devices are very popular due to the low cost, standardization, and interoperability. SFP devices have endured many functional and mechanical changes. Since the initial development of the SFP in 2000, there have been many SFP improvements in functionality and mechanical form factor, such as XFP, X2, SFP, SFP+, QSFP, QSFP+, and CXP technologies. Presently, SFP support optical, wire, or coax services, such as Ethernet, SONET, Fiber Channel, DS3, DS1, video, etc. SFPs supporting optical fiber service use an LC or SC connector. SFPs supporting wired Ethernet or DS1 services use an RJ45 modular connector. SFPs supporting wired DS3 or video services use a coax connector.